Watch the free screening of Season of Thunder, a documentary filmed in the 1980s, depicts the indigenous people’s struggle to save their ancestral lands, the Cordilleras, in the northern part of the Philippines, on Saturday, August 19th, 7:00 pm, at Eastside Arts Alliance in Oakland, California.

They fought for the preservation of their culture and traditional ways of living for the future of their children. It portrays the tribes’ resistance which defeated the Marcos dictatorship’s plans to build dams on tribal lands. The indigenous people’s cultural and economic survival were and continue to be tied to the preservation of the Chico River’s tributaries. Today, a limited martial law recently declared by Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte impacts Mindanao’s tribal people.

His administration’s abrogation of human rights and fatal impact on ordinary citizens have disrupted the lives of the indigenous population, and are slow to reach the international news. 34 years hence, Season of Thunder juxtaposes the very same questions and issues that continue to be debated in the Philippines and around the world: decolonization and climate change.

After the screening, Ismael Saavedra – a prolific filmmaker, artist, and human rights lawyer will be joined by journalist Rene Ciria Cruz in Oakland and author Estella Habal in San Francisco for Q&A.

Free but an RSVP is required.